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A United Nations panel of experts has once again accused Rwanda's President Paul Kagame and his government of supporting warlord Laurent Nkunda in his years-long killing spree in eastern Congo. A report presented to the Sanctions Committee of the UN Security Council on Friday says that Rwandan authorities "have been complicit in the recruitment of soldiers, including children, have facilitated the supply of military equipment and have sent officers and units" from the Rwandan army to help warlord Laurent Nkunda.

It's still unknown why the shooting erupted in Kibati, but one person has been arrested. Armed men are frequent intruders at the camp and Nthengwe says it's very difficult to keep them out. He says, "The main problem is that Kibati camp is in the middle of the front line between the FRDC (national army) and the CNDP rebel group… What we have done in many cases is to speak to…MONUC (UN peacekeeping force) to try and send a message to the CNDP and to send a message to FRDC authorities that they should keep their armed people off the civilian site."

U.S.-based Human Rights Watch has described in chilling detail an attack last month in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in which about 150 people were killed not far from a U.N. peacekeeping base. The human rights group says most of those killed in Kiwanja on November 4 and 5 were shot or hacked to death by ethnic Tutsi rebels after the rebels repulsed an attack by pro-government militia.

The Talks between the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) and a main rebel group are making steady progress but have been adjourned until next week, mediators said on Friday.
The Nairobi peace talks which began earlier this week will adjourn until Dec. 17, Olusegun Obasanjo, the UN Special Envoy and former Nigerian president said in a statement.

On November 4-5, 2008, an estimated 150 people were killed
in the town of Kiwanja in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, half a mile
away from United Nations peacekeeping forces. The event marks one of the worst
killing sprees in North Kivu in the past two years. Most of those killed were
summarily executed by forces of rebel commander Laurent Nkunda's National
Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP).

The United Nations General Assembly today awarded its top human rights prize to seven global advocates ranging from a Congolese doctor who treats female victims of sexual violence, a nun who fought for indigenous rights before her murder in Brazil, and the assassinated Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto.

The security situation has improved in Masisi territory, but remains fragile in Kiwanja-Ishasa, despite the retreat of the “Congrès National pour la Défense du Peuple” (CNDP) troops from Kiwanja-Ishasa, according to the MONUC military spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Jean Paul Dietrich, at the weekly MONUC press conference of 10 December 2008.

Talks aimed at restoring peace in the war-ravaged eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) kicked off in Nairobi, Kenya, on Monday with mediators calling on both sides to lay down their arms for the sake of stability in the Great Lakes Region. Kenyan Foreign Minister Moses Wetangula urged the warring parties to put aside their differences and pursue the path of peace.

Set to kick off on Monday, the talks will be facilitated by Olusegun Obasanjo, the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on the Great Lakes Region and former Nigerian president, and Benjamin Mkapa, representing the African Union (AU) and the International Conference on the Great Lakes (ICGLR), who is also the former president of Tanzania.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said at least five youngsters were recently drafted in the town of Kitshanga in North Kivu province, where fighting has recently flared between the Government army, the Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) led by rebel general Laurent Nkunda, and the Mayi Mayi militia.